Romanticism

Romanticism is a movement in arts and literature which originated in the late 18th century, during the French Revolution and also the Industrial Revolution. This was when people went from hand making things, to using machinery. However, romanticism made a point of emphasizing nature over industry.

The rise of Romanticism led to the rise of landscape art. It characterised literature, music, painting and architecture. Romanticism is linked with landscape and the sense of romance of the landscape features its spirit in full bloom. Romanticism is therefore, attitudes, ideas, and feelings which are romantic rather than realistic.

The Sublime

It is the idea of an ‘Internal’ photo, meaning ‘Emotional’ and an ‘External’ photo, meaning ‘Nature and the Environment’. The sublime is defined by Edmund Burk as art that refers to a greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation. It is both beautiful and terrifying in its power or potential darkness. Artists explored the sublime in depth through art. They used paintings and drawings of the imagination, however they could often turn into nightmares. Natural landscapes were mighty and nice to look at and people admired the aesthetics but they were always dangerous.

What does Landscape mean?

A landscape is defined as all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal. The term Landscape originates from the Dutch word landschap which originally meant ‘region, tract of land’ but then took on an artistic meaning of ‘a picture depicting scenery on land’ in the early 1500s.

In Giovanni Bellini’s painting, St Jerome in the wilderness, 1460, St Jerome is the focus of the image. This picture wouldn’t make sense without a landscape background, but the artist has explored this area in very little detail, keeping all the attention on the religious story.

When did Landscape emerge as a genre?

Before the renaissance in the 16th century, Landscape wasn’t really recognised as a genre in its own right, it was more a background to other genres. In the 17th century, classical landscapes started coming into light. However, it was still low down on the genre hierarchy. These landscapes were sought to illustrate an ideal landscape, recalling Arcadia which is a legendary place in ancient Greece known for its quiet pastoral beauty.

In the 18th century it became more accepted by the academy and in the 18th, early 19th century we start to see more landscape art coming about as a result of the industrial revolution.

These photographs, are a few of my favourite ones from the photoshoot as a whole, as they allow you to picture this boys life and his personality through his looks. I like how the background of the close ups aren’t focussed so that all the attention stays on the face. I think the layout of these photographs work well grouped in 4 as it means I can show all of the images while they compliment each other. I particularly like the lighting of these images being the natural sky light. I think this helped to light up the different features on his face such as his freckles and eyes. The close ups of his face, feel more personal which I think really adds to the meaning of these photos.

I think this first outcome has turned out really well as I was able to do exactly what I had in mind when planning. I like how the different objects paired with an aspect of a person, shows a slight view of their personality. I think it is really good as the photos I have put with one another, compliment each other really well and the concept works how I hoped it would. My end outcome, successfully resembles the work of the artist Nikita Pirogov who originally inspired me.

In these photoshoots, I took portraits of people, close ups of their face or body and I also took photos of objects belonging to them. The photographs I captured, will work well with the idea that I have in mind to present them.

Overall, I am quite happy with the outcome of the photos I produced. However, I would’ve liked to take more so that I had a variety to experiment with. I think the lighting used in some of them is much better than others, for example the photographs which used natural sunlight are slightly better than ones without. However, the photos taken in the studio are just as good because I was able to use proper studio lights and adjust the strength of the light and where it was.

For my first photoshoot for the theme Femininity vs Masculinity, my aim is to take photographs of females and males, capturing the fine details of them. I will use different angles and have the main focus being close-up images.

My goal of the photographs is to be able to capture femininity and masculinity in a way that feels personal, hence the close up shots. I am also going to take photographs of objects that I feel could also represent femininity and masculinity alongside the portraits. When the photographs are all taken, I am going to experiment and see how much I like the object photographs and if I find they do fit in next to the close-ups as I imagine they would.

For this idea, I was slightly inspired by Nikita Pirogov’s work. Her work is based on comparing portraits with photographs of different scenery so to have an idea that links with my theme of masculinity and femininity, I am taking photos slightly different to what she has done but using the same sort of concept.

Nikita Pirogov is a Russian photographer who’s photographs are from her journey through Europe. She has taken photographs of both people and places, comparing the beauty of both and looking beyond for a deeper symbolic connection between the two. I like her work as it captures two different types of beauty and portrays them conjoined together.

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is a photographer who portrays female stereotypes really well. In her work, she is both the photographer and the model, creating different personas of different women in society. In each photograph, she presents feelings such as mystery, suspense and vulnerability. These stills encapsulate femininity during this era playing on the feminist idea that gender arises exclusively within culture and deconstructs dominant gender ideologies. 

These are some of her photographs portraying different ‘types’ of women in different scenarios.:

Claud Cahan

Claude Cahun is a perfect example of someone who wanted to push the boundaries of gender roles in a stereotypical society. Claud Cahan, born Lucy Schwob was a French photographer, sculptor, and writer who is best known for her self-portraits. In her portraits, she assumes a variety of personas, including dandy, weight lifter, aviator, and doll. Cahan moved to Jersey in 1937 with her stepsister and lover Marcel Moore. In 1944, she was imprisoned and sentenced to death for activities in the resistance during the Occupation. However, Cahun survived and was almost forgotten until the late 1980s, and much of her and Moore’s work was destroyed by the Nazis.

Her life was a representation of resistance, challenging the conventional ideas of beauty and femininity with her shaved head and male attire.  Her work pushed against the politics of gender and identity. She used domestic settings such as cupboards at home, presenting something interesting and new, exploring gender fluidity.

Femininity and masculinity are binary opposite, meaning they are a pair or related terms which mean the opposite to one another.

The term binary opposite originated in Saussurean structuralist theory in Linquistics, the scientific study of language. According to Ferdinand de Saussure, binary opposition is the system by which, in language and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another.

Using binary opposites can be very helpful in creating ideas for photography projects as it provides a framework – a set of boundaries to work within.

Other than femininity vs masculinity, other examples of binary opposites are good vs bad, man vs nature, beautiful vs ugly etc.

Femininity

Femininity can be described as the qualities or attributes of women or girls. The typical stereotypes of women tend to be kind, loving, helpful, nurturing, emotional and others related. Femininity can also be understood as a social construct and some behaviours that are considered to be more feminine are influenced by cultural and biological factors. The term ‘femininity’ has been adapted over many decades, during more traditional times, women were seen as fragile and loving and that they should stay at home and be maternal. However, this idea is stereotypical, women are now proving they can be and do much more.

Masculinity

Masculinity can be described as the qualities or attributes regarded as characteristics of men or boys. Masculinity is also seen as a social construct as it has an alternate meaning in different cultures and societies. Attributes which are normally viewed and masculine include being strong, powerful, scary, violent, assertive and others. When women began to work rather than stay at home and do housework and be maternal, some men felt unhappy and uncomfortable in their masculinity as their status as the money maker was now shared with the woman.

Intro to studio lighting.

During this project we are looking at different types of artificial lighting in the studio, mainly focusing on Chiaroscuro / Split lighting, Butterfly Lighting and Rembrandt Lighting.

My Photoshoot:

In this photoshoot, I attempted to take photographs using Rembrandt, butterfly and chiaroscuro lighting techniques. I think the photoshoot did go well, however it was harder than expected to achieve a successful look with the lighting.

Edited Photos

Chiaroscuro Lighting

Rembrandt Lighting:

Black and White: